First Colony Videos: Town Plans

Town Plan

Herschel Shepard describes Spanish colonial town planning.

Plano del Pueblo

Herschel Shepard describe el urbanismo colonial español.

Transcript

The Spanish government decided that the new cities in the New World were to be planned in really a Renaissance tradition of order. You were going to impose order upon the wild nature in which you were located. The Code of the Indies was established to govern the planning, and Saint Augustine was a great example of this. The plaza in which we were standing, originally was not filled with trees and other objects as we see it today, but it was a place of assembly. And from the plaza everything else was planned. The streets radiated from the corners and the lots were assigned according to your place in society. The governor's palace was located at one commanding area of the plaza, the Catholic church was located close to or upon the plaza, and then as you got further away from the plaza, you got into the private residences and private pieces of property. The Spanish told you the way you were going to set your town up, and you should follow those rules.